RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – RTI International has established a new technical unit, reorganizing the organization’s international development group business unit, placing a greater emphasis on research pertaining to climate change.
The nonprofit research institute noted in a statement that doing so will allow the organization and its researchers and partners to “build on its experience providing integrated, multisectoral programming and technical solutions to respond to climate change.”
The technical unit will be called Sustainable Growth & Resilience, and according to RTI, will unify the organization’s experts and current capabilities across the areas of food security, agriculture, environment, water governance, and economic opportunity.
“Integrated, multisectoral programming is key to providing comprehensive solutions that promote resilience and sustainable growth in lower- and middle-income countries,” said Paul Weisenfeld, executive vice president for international development at RTI in a statement. “RTI is going to the next level in thinking and working across sectors to build sustainable solutions to the biggest challenges facing the world today, from COVID-19 to climate change.”
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According to a statement, the new technical unit will be led by Nicole Barnes, a senior vice president at RTI, and contain three divisions: energy; food security, agriculture, water, and environment; and governance and youth economic opportunity.
“We have deep experience in each of these sectors and we are committed to true integration of our approaches,” said Barnes in a statement. “We know from experience how energy programs can spur economic growth and promote clean energy, how biodiversity programs can preserve natural resources and improve livelihoods, how good governance enables and sustains these improvements, and so much more. These sectors are all connected, and so are our solutions.”
